Beginning of Something Beautiful: Leaving Zhytomyr!

I got up this morning so excited that we were going to pick Yana up from the orphanage and leave that place forever! I really didn't think much about how difficult it would be for Yana. Bryan and I simply didn't know what to do when Yana was saying goodbye to her friends and to Nadiya ( the woman who loved and took extra care of her at the orphanage). All I could think of to say is "I'm so sorry" and she kept saying "It's o.k.". She continues to show more and more emotion which I think is very healthy it just breaks our hearts to see her having to leave loved ones behind. As we pulled out of the orphanage today her friend waved goodbye and both she and Yana were upset to have to leave one another. I can't even imagine what her friend was thinking as we left today. Was she thinking what about me? Is there a family for me? Even though today was hard I never want to forget the lives we got to experience at the orphanage. These are such precious kids that make the best out of such heartbreaking situations. In a perfect world we wouldn't leave any of them behind and again life shows me it just isn't fair sometimes. I also wanted to share (if anyone even reads this blog) about the unique opportunity of being able to host these children in your home. We were able to host Yana for five weeks this summer and it was a blessing to get to know her and for her to get to know us. We got to see how she interacts with our children (now her sisters) and began to show her unconditional love. There is an opportunity to host children from this orphanage over the Christmas Holidays. There is a ministry that puts these trips together and they need to have at least 5 children hosted for the trip to make. If it hasn't changed since the last time I talked to them they were needing families to host a sibling group of two children ( a boy and a girl) and another little girl Yana's age. If you have ever thought of hosting or adopting please let me know and I can forward you to the two women in charge of putting the trip together. They can send you information on all of the children. This is especially important this trip because the orphanage is set to close in May and these children need families before they are split up. If you are not called to host or adopt please pray for these children left behind that they are protected and feel God's supernatural peace and love upon them. Please pray that they find a family and the support they need to be able to live a happy and safe life.